Skye’s hand slapped the stone a second later. “Damn. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Kayla kept her face pressed against the stone. If she turned now, Skye would see the pain in her grimace and she couldn’t have that. She forced a laugh. “You know I always beat you.”
“Bullshit. Race to the top of the rock?”
Kayla finally turned, all smiles. “Winner takes all?”
“Always.”
“What are we competing for?”
Skye laughed and shrugged. “How about the winner buys breakfast?”
“Now who’s full of bullshit? We need higher stakes than that.”
Skye said, “What did you have in mind?”
Kayla didn’t let herself think. It was now or never. This was what she came here for. She spoke but couldn’t feel her lips making the shapes of the words. If she had, she would have stopped them.
“If I win, you marry me instead of Amy.”
The words tasted like poison on her lips, but it was too late to take them back. Skye stopped dead. Even her heaving chest held still as she stared at Kayla in disbelief. “Are you insane?”
The poison kept flowing from her tongue in the form of the speech she’d practiced so many times she could say the words without feeling them. “You and I are meant to be, Skye. You know that, as well as I do. You love me as much as I love you. That’s why you came to me in the coffee shop that day.”
“I came to you because I needed the wedding package and…fucking hell, because it was the right thing to do.”
“No. You came to me because you wanted me to stop you. You needed me to give you back the future we both wanted. The future we can still have.”
Skye opened her mouth to speak, but Kayla had the upper hand, and she wasn’t about to lose it. She reached out and grabbed a fistful of Skye’s shirt. She gave a sharp yank at the tight fabric, and then Skye’s body was pressed against hers. Skye’s lips pressed against hers.
Skye gasped with shock, and Kayla pressed forward to deepen the kiss. For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, her tongue slid against Skye’s. Was it shock, habit, or desire that made Skye kiss her back? Kayla didn’t wait to find out. She slid her fingers into Skye’s hair, holding her close. She was only slightly surprised that she didn’t have to use that hand to hold Skye to her. She wasn’t trying to pull away.
In the same moment, she realized Skye was kissing her back, and a horrible realization flooded through Kayla. All the things she used to feel when she kissed Skye—excitement, passion, need—were gone. She felt…nothing. Actually, that wasn’t true. It felt the same as it used to with Skye, but that was nothing compared to what she had felt last night. What she had felt on the beach with Mack. In that moment, her body had come alive. Her soul had come alive. Kissing Mack had made butterflies fill her stomach and desire fill her veins. But it wasn’t just the desire. It was the rightness of it all. The way her lips and body and being had fit against Mack’s. Like they were made for each other. Kissing Skye was a pale, lifeless reflection.
In the end, it wasn’t Skye who pulled away in disgust. It was Kayla. She broke the kiss and scrambled back as far as the steep cliff face would allow. She had made a terrible mistake. This wasn’t what she wanted.
Skye’s mouth hung open, but her eyes filled with fury. “What the actual fuck, Kayla?”
Kayla didn’t look at Skye. She couldn’t. In that moment, she realized with startling clarity that she was a terrible person. Shewas the villain, and she despised herself. And then it got so much worse.
She looked over Skye’s shoulder up to the raised path at the end of the beach where Mack stood. Did Skye look angry? It was nothing compared to the rage in Mack’s eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper, barely audible to herself, much less so far away. “Mack.”
“I’m engaged, Kayla.You’reengaged. You can’t just fucking kiss me.”
Mack’s anger morphed into something closer to humiliation as she turned away. Kayla took a step toward her. “No. Wait.”
Skye finally realized Kayla wasn’t talking to her. She looked over her shoulder just as Mack disappeared from view. “Are you kidding me? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Kayla knew she owed Skye more, but fear like she’d never felt in her life flooded through her. “I’m sorry, Skye. I fucked up.”
“Damn right you did.”
“I have to go.”
Skye’s voice shot up an octave. She was clearly incandescent with rage. “What?”
For better or worse, Kayla didn’t have time for Skye’s anger. She owed her an explanation and a few dozen apologies, but they would have to wait. She couldn’t see Mack anymore, and she needed to get to her. To explain that she had made a mistake. To tell her how her whole life had changed when she kissed Skye and realized she had no interest in ever kissing her again. Never kissing anyone but Mack ever again.
